Anatomy of a Table

While everyone knows some of the basics of table etiquette; elbows off the table when eating, don’t chew with your mouth open, don’t talk with food in your mouth, don’t feed an animal from the table, etc, but a good portion of proper dinner etiquette is quickly becoming a lost art.

Table etiquette, in it’s simplest definition, is a way for people to show respect to one another when eating together at a table. Your actions, posture, placement of utensils, and the order in which you eat items from the menu are all part of the language of table etiquette.

While most would never need to know everything about proper table etiquette, you never know when you’ll need to pull out your proper etiquette chops. Every country and region on the planet has their own set of manners and etiquette, but the following is of the American variety.